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New construction process rejected for McMeeken replacement arena

City staff also oppose adding more luxury suites at GFL Memorial Gardens
McMeeken Centre
According to the generally recognized industry benchmark, the life expectancy of an Ontario arena is 32 years. The McMeeken Mansion of Mould is 51

Six months after suggesting a new construction process be tried on the McMeeken Centre replacement, Tom Vair has changed his mind. 

Monday night, the city's deputy chief administrative officer will recommend proceeding with a request for proposals for architectural and engineering design and contract administration services for the $25 million twin-pad arena at 616 Goulais Ave,

Vair is no longer asking City Council to try a construction management approach for the first time on the project.

Here's how Vair described the new process last March, as opposed to design-build or design-bid-build construction:

This method includes first conducting a request for proposals (RFP) to select a construction management firm (CM).

This firm is selected based on their qualifications and experience building the type of facility being constructed (in our case an arena) as well as the price of their construction management services which include project management and budgeting.

The CM is then involved in the RFP process to select the architect and design firm.

The CM acts as owners agent and the owner knows the construction management fee and architect/engineer fees up front.

The project doesn’t have to wait for all specs to be completed and therefore design changes can be made at various design phases without significant additional cost.

This method encourages the owner, CM and architect to work as a team to finalize the design based on the combined experience of the group.

The CM can work within a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) which the owner sets.

But after the city recently issued a request for proposals for construction management services, Vair no longer favours the idea.

"Four RFP responses were received from qualified firms with price ranges that exceeded the expectations from staff," he says.

"It is anticipated the decision to not proceed with the construction management process will decrease the overall professional services fees for the project," Vair says in a report to Mayor Provenzano and city councillors.

"From a timing perspective, staff do not believe this delay will significantly impact the project. Even if the city had proceeded with a construction management firm, the next step was to issue an RFP for architectural and engineering services."

On Monday, Vair will ask council to agree to using a more traditional design-bid-build methodology to build the McMeeken replacement.

But he's recommending three added steps to capture some of the benefits of the construction management process:

  • incorporating a peer-review option within the design-bid-build process at the 10 per cent and 90 per cent design points
  • emphasizing the requirement to design a project within the total budget of $25 million
  • include a stipulation that firms have a team member with extensive arena construction experience within the past five years
City staff have been authorized to apply for infrastructure funding for the arena project from higher levels of government.

$1.65 million in annual debt-servicing dollars will become available over the next three years as the city makes its last payments on the John Rhodes Community Centre and GFL Memorial Gardens.

The two new ice pads will be National Hockey League-sized, with seating for between 300 and 500 spectators per pad.

GFL Memorial Gardens luxury suites

Meanwhile, Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, will advise against a $6.5-million addition of 24 new luxury suites at GFL Memorial Gardens.

Lamming cites the following drawbacks to the suite expansion:

  • upfront cost of capital outlay
  • risk of not leasing all of the suites
  • approximate payback of 30 years
  • Greyhounds have indicated they would not support allocating 75 per cent of ticket revenue to the capital cost payback period
  • increased tax burden to the public
  • Soo Greyhounds contract expires in 2025-26 season

Instead, Lamming will ask councillors to consider converting a little-used GFL boardroom and office into a private lounge.

"The boardroom had been offered to everyone on the list during the 2019 playoffs run and during the 2018/19 season," Lamming says. "There was not any interest in renting this area in its current state, It is anticipated that if the current configuration was adjusted that more interest would be garnered."

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.


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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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